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On your next podcast, will you follow a trend and take your fair share?

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Or do you have an idea that's never or barely been done before?

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Both have their rewards and

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their challenges, so which is right for you?

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Today's episode is brought to you by the advancing podcasting community

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at advancing podcasting dot X, Y, Z.

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Because why would I do anything?

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It's a special community just for listeners and readers of

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Podcast Pontifications and it's populated by like-minded working

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podcasters just like you who also want to make podcasting better.

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You're already listening to the show.

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So why not extend the conversation and your influence

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on the future of podcasting?

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Join us today at advancingpodcasting.xyz.

Evo Terra: 00:00:56

Hello, and welcome to another Podcast Pontifications with me, Evo Terra.

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Our digital world is never static.

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Almost every single day we see some new service or some new offering

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that becomes available to us.

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Now, most of those, history has proven, will fizzle out and fail.

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Some will continue with some modest success.

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And a few will be breakout successes and become the next thing that we either

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can't live without, or can't understand why people waste their time with.

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And it's no different in podcasting, really.

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Just like those big entrepreneurs or big companies that launch new things

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all the time, smart podcasters who are looking to start a new podcast

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are faced with a similar choice.

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Are you going to create your own niche or are you going to steal

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market share from someone else?

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I don't think there's really a right or a wrong answer to the

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question of what you should do.

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And also, I think to a certain degree, all new podcasts actually have to steal

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some market share from other podcasts.

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Remember, 30% of the US population listen to podcasts on a weekly basis, roughly.

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So those 30% of the population, those hundred million Americans who

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listen to podcasts - I think it's like 80 million, close enough - they

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only have a certain amount of time.

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We podcast listeners, much like we podcast producers, only have a

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certain amount of time to do things.

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So yeah, we have to steal some market share from some people.

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And I think, and you should understand, that people do

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rotate through their podcasts.

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Regular listeners out there, podcasters a lot, but regular listeners, too, rotate

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through the podcasts they listen to.

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Sure, they have their set standards that they keep and will probably keep forever,

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but you know, they dabble in new shows.

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And these listeners certainly have, or many of these listeners have, a type,

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a preference that they have for the types of shows that they want to hear.

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Of course, in podcasting, we've seen our share of trends of big

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things where people want to move to.

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Think true crime for a moment.

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True crime was, and by many indications still is, a huge

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draw with a large audience.

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Lots of people listen to true crime content, very hungry for

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more, more true crime content.

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Daily news shows, that's another by all indications, or by a lot of indications,

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daily news shows is/are a huge draw.

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And we have a large audience out there who are hungry for more of that

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type of content on a regular basis.

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And I think our, we have lots of existing media outlets who are launching

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shows in that area because, look, our appetite for news, collectively

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speaking, doesn't really change.

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Audio dramas, fiction podcasts, excitingly, I hear, are trending

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upwards, which is great.

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Lots of new entrants in there, and lots of big media, lots of big companies

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who've got chops in other sorts of fiction and storytelling areas like book

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publishing, television, and film are all coming in vying for ear holes, I guess.

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All of those want to take market share away from others because

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there's a trend working right now.

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Then we have the pioneers, the true pioneers, if you will, doing things that

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don't quite fit other models or molds.

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Not that there's not room to innovate within shares by

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developing existing market share.

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There certainly is, right?

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You can innovate there.

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But I'm talking about something totally new and different, really,

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truly carving out your own niche.

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And when you do that, it means that you're making a show or a podcast that other

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people don't yet know that they want.

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Then again, that's an assumption.

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You don't know whether they want it or not.

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When you're carving out a niche on your own, there's no trend to ride.

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There's no all-important search terms you have to optimize for because again, no

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one is looking for this kind of content.

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It doesn't exist right now.

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You're blazing your own trail.

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Now, that may be scary to some, but for others like myself,

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that's kind of exciting.

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I mean, having no expectations of an audience.

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You're not trying to one-up the competition because there's not really

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enough competition for the listeners of this niche that you are creating

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right now get to judge you by.

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You are totally on your own, which is scary and also incredibly freeing.

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We've seen it happen over and over in the podcasting world

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where new niches are developed.

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Podcasting hasn't been just one thing from the beginning . It was never that way.

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Although, a lot of people treat it as if it is exactly the same.

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But it's not.

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Depending on what you're trying to do, going after existing market share,

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stealing it from other podcasts, or making it on your own - quite different.

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Now, both options are valid.

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Which path you should take really depends upon you.

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It depends on your ability to solve those challenges because stealing

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market share from very big, established players entering in a space that

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is well-trodden, that's hard.

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It's really hard to do.

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An established audience is often quite unforgiving.

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Especially if you take some ham-fisted approach.

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Enter the market space without studying and understanding what rules

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exist before you start breaking them.

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Also, going against a big, established marketplace, trying to steal it away,

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means you may not have the budget or the resources really to compete at the time.

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Again, I don't think there's a right way to do this.

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And your job when you're making this decision isn't to pick the right one.

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Again, it's pick the right one for you, but then also do not mismatch your

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actions depending on your chosen path.

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See, a lot of what works to grow a show in an established marketplace is

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not going to work as well when there is no existing marketplace to grow.

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You have to grow your entire marketplace, right?

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And vice versa.

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A lot of the advice you hear out there about how to grow a show, how to monetize

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a show, or anything else to make your podcast bigger may not apply to you

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if you take one path versus the other.

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Again, going after an existing audience or an audience that

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you have to create on your own.

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All you can do is choose wisely.

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Now, if this helped you just start - and we'll come back to this conversation.

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This is just the beginning.

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I want you to think about these two different paths.

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I will come back and revisit this from time to time.

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But if this got you thinking about things in the right way, please consider

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going to BuyMeACoffee.com/evoterra, and lending me your support.

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That would be lovely.

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Also, I've made some changes to the homepage of PodcastPontifications.com.

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Take a quick look.

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At the top of the page, you'll see a "Listen everywhere" bar.

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I'm swapping out the logos of the companies of the services of the

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apps you see in there to reach, to put forth to you some that

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you may not have heard of before.

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I figured that's a, I'm in a special place since I'm talking to podcasters who

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already have a preferred podcast listening app, or at least a default service.

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So I'm trying some new things.

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Big thanks, also, to Betty from the If You Ask Betty podcast for helping

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me with some of those graphics.

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Much appreciation, Betty.

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Thank you.

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Thank you.

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I'd love your feedback.

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If you click those links, tell me what happens.

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If you've got something you think I should have up there, by all means

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let me know, evo@simpler.media.

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That's it.

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I shall be back tomorrow with yet another Podcast Pontifications.

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Cheers!

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Podcast Pontifications is written and narrated by Evo Terra.

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He's on a mission to make podcasting better.

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Links to everything mentioned in today's episode are in the notes

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section of your podcast listening app.

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A written-to-be-read article based on today's episode is available at

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podcastpontifications.com where you'll also find a video version and a corrected

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transcript, both created by Allie Press.

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Podcast Pontifications is a production of Simpler Media.